How are Winter Sports Functioning at PDS?

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(Photo/James Will/PDS Flickr)

Spokesman Writer

At the start of winter, many students and teachers doubted a winter sports season would take place because of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Outdoor fall sports were a success with maskless interscholastic games and events, but how would this success continue in the winter sports season where all sports play indoors?

Since the winter sports season does not have that same luxury of ventilation as the fall, COVID-19 protocols needed some adjustments. Luckily, Princeton Day School has taken the proper precautions to keep a COVID-19 friendly environment that would keep our community safe. With the new spacious athletic center, typical indoor winter sports like basketball, squash, hockey, and fencing can be held with many COVID-19 protocols implemented. Director of Athletics Katherine Fay noted, “We are incredibly fortunate to have the new athletic center. While many schools are struggling with a lack of facilities, PDS is completely equipped to allow ample time for all our athletes to participate in their sports.” 

Although the athletic center is spacious and accommodating, there have been numerous necessary COVID protocols added to this year’s winter sports season. Ms. Fay added, “We are thrilled to be able to participate in interscholastic athletics for our winter season sports. As our students’ and coaches’ health and safety remains our top priority, we have implemented strict protocols to create the safest possible environment in which to practice and compete.” Some of these implementations that Ms. Fay mentioned include masks being worn at all times by coaches and athletes, staggered practices with buffered times in order to minimize the number of people in the Athletic Center at one time, daily health screening of all participants, and lastly, no spectators at games. The home games, however, will be streamed whenever feasible, so you can support your friends virtually. 

Freshman Aadi Shankar said that squash is operating effectively with the new COVID-19 protocols: “Even with the pandemic, I think the PDS squash coaches, Coaches [Asad] Khan and [Matthew] Trowbridge, are doing a great job of orchestrating safe COVID-19 protocols on the squash court and in our new athletic center. Through an unprecedented time, they’ve made sure students and athletes can still have fun competing and playing with each other.” Although these new protocols may seem hard to follow, they are completely necessary to sustain a healthy community. If these rules are followed, then our community can enjoy the luxury of a winter sports season that not many schools can experience this year.